Cristina Palabay, secretary-general of Karapatan, said that the increased use of the anti-terror law and other trumped-up charges against activists has become a pattern during the first year of Ferdinand Marcos Jr administration.
The circumstances of Buiza’s arrest echoes the simultaneous police and military operations conducted last March 7, 2021, which resulted in nine deaths and six arrests across the Southern Tagalog region, dubbed ‘Bloody Sunday’. Six of the victims and three of the arrests happened in Rizal province.
By MAX SANTIAGO
“While colleagues similarly face legal challenges — from libel to made-up terrorism charges — in relation to their work, we take inspiration from this acquittal that if we stand up and hold the line, we can win,” NUJP stated.
Kapatid compared the bail amount to the P300,000 ($5,371.50) bail posted by former first lady Imelda Marcos after she was convicted by the Sandiganbayan for using her government position to maintain Swiss bank accounts while her husband was in office.
Seventy-five-year-old Rodolfo Diaz, a member of the Tumandok tribe, and the oldest political prisoner in Panay, walked out of the Iloilo District Jail on October 28 after the local court granted his petition for bail.
“They have many ways to silence us, but we also have many ways to continue.”
“The police personnel’s justification of their arrests along with other human rights defenders, is a blatant manifestation of weaponizing the law to silence and repress those who criticize the government’s failed pandemic response, corruption and trade union and human rights violations.”
KMU said that the “ratified” warrant stems from a peaceful protest that was held in July 2020.
Karapatan-Southern Tagalog is asking the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Mimaropa and the Regional Trial Court Branch 81 for an explanation to the allegations that Maria Teresa Dioquino is being held in solitary confinement and harassed by military intelligence officials.
“The pattern of the police’s use of search warrants, planting evidence and effecting the arbitrary arrests and detention of individuals like Pastor Dan Balucio is a glaring form of weaponization of the judiciary against activists and dissenters.”